Nvidia is Making a Handheld Gaming System
Image via Nvidia
Nvidia has announced they are climbing into the handheld gaming ring with a new device, code-named “Project Shield,” that looks sorta like an old Xbox controller soldered to a big Android phone. That’s not too far off, considering it runs Android OS and uses the power of its Tegra 4 processor to play Android titles from the Tegrazone library and Steam. The screen is a 5-inch 720p touch display and the sound is supposedly pretty good too. On the back panel, it’s got microSD for expanded memory, micro-USB to charge and hook to your computer, and an HDMI port to stream it to your TV. And if you have a 4k TV, you may actually want to do that, since it can play movies in that resolution… for some reason. Speaking of video, check this one out if you’d like to see one of these fancy gadgets, inside and out.
The battery is said to be able to deliver 5 to 10 hours of gameplay before needing recharge, which is good for anyone who wishes to do some console-style games on the go. It’s safe to say that these are the people Project Shield is supposed to be for, since they’ve shown Need For Speed, Assassin’s Creed III, and Hawken running on it. We’ll have to wait until second quarter this year (sometime between April and June) to see how many of these people exist and whether the unannounced price will be low enough to attract them. In the meantime, feel free to speculate how smartphones and tablets might have crowded the landscape of portable gaming enough to make Sony’s Vita and Nintendo’s 3DS a whole lot less popular and whether or not this leaves room for a newcomer. I know I will.
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